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ABC online to remain free

ABC managing director Mark Scott has lashed out at News Limited's plans to proceed to a user-pays model.

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abc2_logoABC managing director Mark Scott has told the annual AN Smith Memorial Lecture in Journalism that the media giant will continue to offer free online content to Australians, and lashed out at News Limited’s plans to proceed to a user-pays model.

“It will certainly be free online at the ABC,” he said. “The public pays for the ABC to deliver distinctive, quality content to them – and if it is content we are creating and packaging for them now, they are entitled to view that content free of charge.

“The ABC faces the challenge that all publishers and broadcasters face to not just be an oracle, espousing the facts and the analysis as we see it, but to create space for our audiences to speak – to share their knowledge and insights, their creativity and ingenuity,” he said.

“To embed a user-generated content experience at the same time as holding on to our brand, our values and integrity.

“What we are trying is revolutionary. Reengineering our newsrooms to deliver quality news when our audience wants it, not just when we schedule it.”

Mr Scott says for media organisations to survive they must adapt to the new world.

“The only media organisations that can survive will be those who know and accept that all the rules have changed,” he said.

But Greg Baxter, a spokesman for News Limited said: “The ABC isn’t free – it’s almost totally taxpayer funded.”

Source: abc.net.au, The Australian

7 Responses

  1. Mr Scott and the rest of the ABC, the news on the ABC is not free, it is supplied free because it is subsidised by the taxpayers of Australia. While the rest of the country’s media battles for the ever-increasingly difficult advertising dollar, it must be nice to know that you and your friends will never have to struggle for their next payrise or over-priced half-hour comedy bucket of drivel because you know you will always get the same funding you did the year before without any questions. Oh and the occasional increase multi-million increase in funding just to make you all feel better. Must be nice in live in a land where you don’t ever have to worry about the real world. With all the media outlets cutting back can anyone honestly remember the last time there were job cuts or redundancies at the ABC due to budget restrictions??? Didn’t think so …

  3. One wonders whether Mark Scott would still go on his Murdoch bashing rants if he still had his old job at Fairfax? To compare the the (mostly) tax-payer funded business model of the ABC with the user-pays/advertiser supported model of News Corp is ridiculous! If good quality journalism is to survive in the future (& not just somebody’s random rubbish blog), than we all have to pay – either through tax dollars or payment for unique content.

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